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Blog Archive (July 2010)

Fast Food hypocricy strikes again. Now McDonald's is jumping on the green-washing bandwagon, with a recent announcement of "going local" and even a microsite to bolster their lame Locavore claim. Below is McDonald's "neww" advertising statistic, sited in a recent article on BrandWeek that:
"95 percent of McDonald's fries, 95 percent of Filet-O-Fish fillets, and 85 percent of the apples served in... more

When I read this story, I pictured the characters of Big Ag sitting around the conference table pondering all the possible propaganda they could cook up to make Organics look and sound bad. Guess this is the best they could come up with: organics are to blame for Americans' poor diet. It's a hard sell, especially when all of those delicious veggies are arriving at the farmer's market and my CSA (... more

Anyone curious about what the average American consumes on a yearly basis? If so, here's an easy to read graphic that shows what Americans consume, pound per pound. Now, if one can visualize all the other "stuff" in those foods... additives, agrichemicals, hormones, antibiotics. Check it out at:
http://www.visualeconomics.com/food-consumption-in-america_2010-07-12/
Published... more

Corn has had a bad week. Driving by the vast corn fields this week that were well above "knee high by the 4th of July" (more like "had high") one would never know just how much damage corn can and has done - both environmentally and politically.
Here's the weekly roundup:
This week the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Dead zone in gulf linked to ethanol production. While this is by no means "... more

A press release from the EPA today states that Monsanto has agreed to pay a $2.5 million fine for the sale of its genetically modified BT cotton seeds. This is the largest penalty ever under U.S. insecticide act, according to Reuters.
According to the article:
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said St. Louis-based Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, violated the... more

Vilsack: Farm Bill Should Emphasize Beginning Farmers
A funny thing happened on the way to a Senate Agriculture Committee farm bill hearing to review progress on implementation of the 2008 Farm Bill’s commodity, crop insurance, and disaster assistance programs. As the lead witness at the June 30 hearing, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack did not read a single word or convey a... more